---
layout: "docs"
page_title: "Commands: Connect Proxy"
sidebar_current: "docs-commands-connect-proxy"
description: >
  The connect proxy subcommand is used to run the built-in mTLS proxy for Connect.
---

# Consul Connect Proxy

Command: `consul connect proxy`

The connect proxy command is used to run Consul's built-in mTLS proxy for
use with Connect. This can be used in production to enable a Connect-unaware
application to accept and establish Connect-based connections. This proxy
can also be used in development to establish Connect-based connections.


## Usage

Usage: `consul connect proxy [options]`

#### API Options

<%= partial "docs/commands/http_api_options_client" %>
<%= partial "docs/commands/http_api_options_server" %>

#### Proxy Options

* `-service` - Name of the service this proxy is representing. This service
  doesn't need to actually exist in the Consul catalog, but proper ACL
  permissions (`service:write`) are required.

* `-upstream` - Upstream service to support connecting to. The format should be
  'name:addr', such as 'db:8181'. This will make 'db' available on port 8181.
  When a regular TCP connection is made to port 8181, the proxy will service
  discover "db" and establish a Connect mTLS connection identifying as
  the `-service` value. This flag can be repeated multiple times.

* `-listen` - Address to listen for inbound connections to the proxied service.
  Must be specified with -service and -service-addr. If this isn't specified,
  an inbound listener is not started.

* `-service-addr` - Address of the local service to proxy. Required for
  `-listen`.

* `-register` - Self-register with the local Consul agent, making this
  proxy available as Connect-capable service in the catalog. This is only
  useful with `-listen`.

* `-register-id` - Optional ID suffix for the service when `-register` is set
  to disambiguate the service ID. By default the service ID is "<service>-proxy"
  where `<service>` is the `-service` value.

* `-log-level` - Specifies the log level.

* `-pprof-addr` - Enable debugging via pprof. Providing a host:port (or just ':port')
  enables profiling HTTP endpoints on that address.

* `-proxy-id` - The proxy's ID on the local agent. This is only useful to
  test the managed proxy mode.

## Examples

The example below shows how to start a local proxy for establishing outbound
connections to "db" representing the frontend service. Once running, any
process that creates a TCP connection to the specified port (8181) will
establish a mutual TLS connection to "db" identified as "frontend".

```text
$ consul connect proxy -service frontend -upstream db:8181
```

The next example starts a local proxy that also accepts inbound connections
on port 8443, authorizes the connection, then proxies it to port 8080:

```text
$ consul connect proxy \
    -service frontend \
    -service-addr 127.0.0.1:8080 \
    -listen ':8443'
```
